WWI Aero
The Journal Of The Early Aeroplane
No. 177, August 2002

Reviewed by Jim Schubert

This issue leads off with the conclusion of a two part article on the work of Alexander F. Mozhaisky (1825-1890) who is reputed to have achieved brief powered flight with a heavier than air, steam engined machine in 1884. The article is followed with an account by Dave Stott of the rubber powered model that he built using the Russian patent drawings for Mozhaisky's flying machine. The model flew rather well. Two absorbing articles relating to the Wright's at Kittyhawk follow. The first tells their story from the point of view of the Coast Guardsmen and their families stationed at Kittyhawk; the second documents the fact that the "first" flight was not the "first" flight. Wilbur actually "flew" for four seconds to a distance of 112 feet on December 14, 1903; three days prior to the date reported by the Wrights for their first flight.

Two articles on the Roumanian physicist Henri Coanda and the world's first jet plane keep the reader interested. Coanda designed and built both the engine and the aeroplane and flew the combination on December 16, 1910. The first flight was also the last as the jet exhaust set the airplane on fire. Coanda was not badly burned but the airplane was consumed. This first jet engine produced 405 pounds of static thrust. Thirty years later, Whittle's first engine produced 600 pounds.

Other fascinating articles in this issue deal with the Roumanian inventor, aviator and spy Rodrig Goliescu, SPAD 7's, flying Shuttleworth's LVG C.VI and there is the usual lot of regular features, photos, drawings, etc. All good stuff. This is one of the very few journals, of the many that I receive, which I read through at the first sitting and then go back and largely reread. Of course, that may only mean that my comprehension is poor - but I don't think so.

WWI Aero costs $35 per year in the US.

World War I Aeroplanes, Inc
15 Crescent Road
Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
USA